The Circulating Ideas podcast facilitates conversations with the innovative people and ideas inspiring libraries to grow and thrive in the 21st century. This newsletter dives deeper into those conversations.
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Ben Franklin‘s Library Company, which charged subscriptions to borrowers, is generally regarded as the foundation for the public library as we know it. This evolved into the open stacks and public library systems we know today, but lurking in the corners is the skulking form of privatization.
Libraries are not businesses and should not be motivated by the same incentives that drive businesses (this mindset is generally what ignites the internet fights about using the word “customer” for a person served by a library). While we should be efficient and responsible and mindful of the money that goes out the door, public service is our end goal, not profit or higher returns for investors or hockey stick growth charts.
Privatized libraries offer a bait and switch to local governments. Cut the library budget to save the local government money? Check! And what does that mean? Lower levels of staffing, lower levels of resources, lower levels of services, lower levels of storytimes, lower levels of community outreach, lower levels of everything…
In this episode of the show, I chat with Donald Cohen, co-author of The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back, about how he defines privatization, why public goods are vital to a functioning democracy, public-private partnerships that work, and what individuals can do to fight back against privatization.
Public libraries have been remarkably resistant, though not immune, to the waves of privatization, even as other public things, including things that are arguably more essential and harder to privatize, have been auctioned off.
Privatization is the process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency, charity or public service from the public sector (the state or government) or common use to the private sector (businesses that operate for a private profit) or to private non-profit organizations.
In the Public Interest is a national nonprofit research and policy organization that studies public goods and services. They help community organizations, advocacy groups, public officials, researchers, and the general public understand how the privatization of public goods impacts service quality, democracy, equity, and government budgets. They also advocate for strengthening, adequately funding, and building popular support for public institutions that work for all of us.
EveryLibrary’s Executive Director John Chrastka has been a longtime friend of the show. He has been on every 2-3 years to give listeners an update on EveryLibrary’s actions.
School libraries are under attack with book challenges and outright book bannings. Take action to support school librarians and libraries across the United States with EveryLibrary!
You may notice that the titles of the newsletter are different with this issue and going forward. I found out recently that having numbers in a subject line increases the likelihood of it getting caught by spam filters. So, we’re going with the name of the guest or the topic of each episode.
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